Previous exposure to hormone replacement therapy and confounders in metabolic studies

Abstract

Recent HRT use is associated with lower intra-abdominal fat in nonobese, early postmenopausal women. This finding suggests a carry-over effect of HRT on intra-abdominal fat. Recent HRT use does not seem to be associated with differences in glucose disposal.

Effects of hormone replacement therapy on weight, abdominal fat distribution, and lipid levels in Japanese postmenopausal women

“…Numerous studies have indicated that HRT prevented or reduced weight gain [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]18 and android (central) fat accumulation. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]18,19 Manolio et al 8 reported that estrogen users had lower weight, BMI, and WHR than subjects never treated. Espeland et al 9 showed that women randomly assigned to take conjugated equine estrogen (CEE) with or without a progestational agent averaged 1.0 kg less weight gain at the end of 3 y than those assigned to take placebo.…”

“…Sites et al 10,11 found that estrogen users had lower weight and BMI, and less visceral adipose tissue demonstrable by CT than patients never treated. Our findings that HRT did not cause gains in weight and BMI, and prevented an increase in VAF distribution, are essentially in agreement.…”

“…5,6 Many menopausal women believe that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) causes weight gain, 7 but whether this impression is correct remains uncertain. In fact, many clinical studies indicated that HRT prevented or reduced weight gain [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] and body fat gain, [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]18,19 although other investigators found the opposite both for weight 20,21 and body fat. 20,21 Thus, the effect of HRT concerning weight and body fat remains controversial.…”

“…[22][23][24] Only two CT-based reports found visceral fat to be lower in HRT patients than in untreated PMW. 10,11 However, the CT studies merely compared HRT users with nonusers, with none being longitudinal.…”

Selective estrogen receptor modulator promotes weight loss in ovariectomized female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) by decreasing food intake and increasing activity

“…However, the idea that HRT increases body weight is supported by only a few studies (5, 36). The majority of studies report either that postmenopausal women on HRT have lower body weight than nonusers (82, 83) or that HRT decreases (28, 29, 47) or does not affect postmenopausal weight gain (10,84,86,91), and a few studies report that HRT causes weight loss (20). The controversy around the effects of HRT on body weight in postmenopausal women may be related in part to differing effects of the various HRT regimens that are in common use, including differences in the time of initiation, the variety and dose of synthetic hormones, and different routes of administration [e.g., oral vs. transdermal (66)].…”